The present application relates to the delivery of power to a moving and/or rotating unit. In particular, power may be delivered to two or more components utilizing different voltages concurrently via merely a single rotary transformer (e.g., comprised of a single set of primary and secondary windings) and/or other transference component that transfers power between a stationary unit and a rotating unit (e.g., or other unit configured to move relative to the stationary unit). Such power delivery systems and/or techniques find particular application in the context of computed tomography (CT) scanners, such as might be used in medical, security, and/or industrial applications, but may also be useful in other systems where two or more components of a moving unit that have different voltage requirements may be powered concurrently, for example.
Systems that comprise electronic components within a moving unit often require power to be provided to the moving unit via a power coupling apparatus. For example, in a CT scanner, power is supplied to an x-ray source and other electronics on a rotating gantry of the CT scanner from a stationary unit using a power coupling apparatus. One such power coupling apparatus is described in PCT Publication Number WO 2008/079870 to Adrian Delforge and assigned to Analogic Corporation.
With respect to CT scanners, the rotating gantry generally comprises numerous electronic components including, but not limited to, an x-ray tube, anode drive, tube heat exchanger, spine heater, and control electronics, for example. It will be appreciated that some of these electronic components, such the x-ray tube, may require as much as 100 kW or more of power while other electronic components that can operate concurrently with the x-ray tube may require much less power (e.g., 5 kW or less). Traditionally, two sets of power electronics have been utilized to provide the requisite power to the rotating gantry. A first set of power electronics (e.g., comprising a first inverter and a first set of windings) has been used to supply power to high voltage components, such as the x-ray source, and a second set of power electronics (e.g., comprising a second inverter and a second set of windings) has been used to supply power to other components that generally require a lower voltage.
While such techniques for providing power to the electronics of a CT system and/or other systems that require varying levels of power to be supplied to a moving unit have proven useful, there are several drawbacks to such techniques. For example, respective sets of power electronics may add weight (e.g., 50 pounds or more) to a moving unit and may consume space on the moving unit that is at a premium. As the desired RPM of rotating gantries in CT scanners continues to increase, the desire to decrease the weight of the rotating gantries has also increased. Additionally, it may be desirable to reduce the space consumed on a rotating gantry by power electronics to make room for other electronics that may further advance imaging capabilities of a CT scanner, for example.